Creative activity: meaning, types. Creative activities of children

Creation- a process of human activity that creates qualitatively new material and spiritual values ​​or the result of the creation of a subjectively new one. The main criterion that distinguishes creativity from manufacturing (production) is the uniqueness of its result. The result of creativity cannot be directly derived from the initial conditions. No one, except perhaps the author, can get exactly the same result if the same initial situation is created for him. Thus, in the process of creativity, the author puts into the material certain possibilities that are not reducible to labor operations or logical conclusion, and expresses in the final result some aspects of his personality. It is this fact that gives creative products additional value in comparison with manufactured products.

Creativity is an activity that generates something qualitatively new, something that has never existed before. Creativity is the creation of something new, valuable not only for this person, but also for others.

Types and functions of creativity

A researcher of the human creative factor and the phenomenon of the intelligentsia, Vitaly Tepikin, identifies artistic, scientific, technical, sports-tactical, as well as military-tactical creativity as independent types.S. L. Rubinstein was the first to correctly point out the characteristic features of inventive creativity: “The specificity of an invention, which distinguishes it from other forms of creative intellectual activity, is that it must create a thing, a real object, a mechanism or a technique that solves a certain problem. This determines the uniqueness of the creative work of the inventor: the inventor must introduce something new into the context of reality, into the actual course of some activity. This is something essentially different from solving a theoretical problem in which a limited number of abstractly identified conditions need to be taken into account. Moreover, reality is historically mediated by human activity and technology: it embodies the historical development of scientific thought. Therefore, in the process of invention, one must proceed from the context of reality into which something new is to be introduced, and take into account the corresponding context. This determines the general direction and specific nature of the various links in the process of invention.”

Creativity as an ability

Creativity(from English create- create, English. creative- constructive, creative) - the creative abilities of an individual, characterized by a readiness to create fundamentally new ideas that deviate from traditional or accepted patterns and are included in the structure of giftedness as an independent factor, as well as the ability to solve problems that arise within static systems. According to the authoritative American psychologist Abraham Maslow, this is a creative orientation that is innately characteristic of everyone, but is lost by the majority under the influence of the environment.

At the everyday level, creativity manifests itself as ingenuity - the ability to achieve a goal, find a way out of a seemingly hopeless situation using the environment, objects and circumstances in an unusual way. Wider is a non-trivial and ingenious solution to the problem. Moreover, as a rule, with scarce and unspecialized tools or resources, if material. And a bold, non-standard, what is called a non-cliched approach to solving a problem or satisfying a need located on an intangible plane.

Creativity criteria

Creativity criteria:

• fluency - the number of ideas arising per unit of time;
• originality - the ability to produce unusual ideas that differ from the generally accepted ones;
• flexibility. As Ranko notes, the importance of this parameter is determined by two circumstances: firstly, this parameter allows us to distinguish individuals who show flexibility in the process of solving a problem from those who show rigidity in solving them, and secondly, it allows us to distinguish individuals who are original solve problems from those who demonstrate false originality.
• receptivity - sensitivity to unusual details, contradictions and uncertainty, willingness to quickly switch from one idea to another;
• metaphoricality - readiness to work in a completely unusual context, a penchant for symbolic, associative thinking, the ability to see the complex in the simple, and the simple in the complex.
• Satisfaction is the result of creativity. With a negative result, the meaning and further development of the feeling are lost.

According to Torrance

• Fluency is the ability to produce a large number of ideas;
• Flexibility - the ability to use a variety of strategies when solving problems;
• Originality - the ability to produce unusual, non-standard ideas;
• Elaboration is the ability to develop emerging ideas in detail.
• Resistance to closure is the ability not to follow stereotypes and to “stay open” for a long time to a variety of incoming information when solving problems.
• The abstractness of the name is an understanding of the essence of the problem of what is truly essential. The naming process reflects the ability to transform figurative information into verbal form.

Creativity as a process (creative thinking)

Stages of Creative Thinking

G. Wallace

The most famous description today of the sequence of stages (stages) was given by the Englishman Graham Wallace in 1926. He identified four stages of creative thinking:

1. Preparation- formulation of the problem; attempts to solve it.
2. Incubation- temporary distraction from the task.
3. - emergence of an intuitive solution.
4. Examination- testing and/or implementation of the solution.

However, this description is not original and goes back to the classic report of A. Poincaré in 1908.

A. Poincare

Henri Poincaré, in his report to the Psychological Society in Paris (in 1908), described the process of making several mathematical discoveries and identified the stages of this creative process, which were subsequently identified by many psychologists.

Stages

1. At the beginning, a problem is set and attempts are made to solve it for some time.

“For two weeks I tried to prove that there could not exist any function similar to the one that I later called automorphic. I was, however, completely wrong; Every day I sat down at my desk, spent an hour or two at it, exploring a large number of combinations, and did not come to any result.”

2. This is followed by a more or less long period during which the person does not think about the still unsolved problem and is distracted from it. At this time, Poincaré believes, unconscious work on the task occurs. 3. And finally there comes a moment when suddenly, without immediately preceding thoughts about the problem, in a random situation that has nothing to do with the problem, the key to the solution arises in the mind.

“One evening, contrary to my habit, I drank black coffee; I couldn't sleep; the ideas pressed together, I felt them collide until two of them came together to form a stable combination.”

In contrast to usual reports of this kind, Poincaré describes here not only the moment the decision appeared in consciousness, but also the work of the unconscious that immediately preceded it, as if miraculously becoming visible; Jacques Hadamard, drawing on this description, points out its complete exclusivity: “I have never experienced this wonderful feeling and I have never heard anyone except him [Poincaré] experience it.” 4. After this, when the key idea for the solution is already known, the solution is completed, tested, and developed.

“By morning I had established the existence of one class of these functions, which corresponds to the hypergeometric series; All I had to do was write down the results, which only took a few hours. I wanted to represent these functions as a ratio of two series, and this idea was completely conscious and deliberate; I was guided by the analogy with elliptic functions. I asked myself what properties these series should have if they exist, and I easily managed to construct these series, which I called theta-automorphic.”

Theory

Theorizing, Poincaré depicts the creative process (using the example of mathematical creativity) as a sequence of two stages: 1) combining particles - elements of knowledge and 2) subsequent selection of useful combinations.

Poincaré notes that combination occurs outside of consciousness - ready-made “really useful combinations and some others that have signs of useful ones, which he [the inventor] will then discard,” appear in consciousness. Questions arise: what kind of particles are involved in unconscious combination and how the combination occurs; how the “filter” works and what are these signs by which it selects certain combinations, passing them into consciousness. Poincaré gives the following answer.

Initial conscious work on a task actualizes and “sets in motion” those elements of future combinations that are relevant to the problem being solved. Then, if, of course, the problem is not solved immediately, a period of unconscious work on the problem begins. While the consciousness is occupied with completely different things, in the subconscious the particles that have received a push continue their dance, colliding and forming various combinations. Which of these combinations come into consciousness? These are the combinations “the most beautiful, that is, those which most affect that special sense of mathematical beauty, known to all mathematicians and inaccessible to the profane to such an extent that they are often inclined to laugh at it.” So, the most “mathematically beautiful” combinations are selected and penetrated into consciousness. But what are the characteristics of these beautiful mathematical combinations? “These are those whose elements are harmoniously arranged in such a way that the mind can, without effort, embrace them entirely, guessing the details. This harmony serves both to satisfy our aesthetic feelings and to help the mind, it supports it and it is guided by it. This harmony gives us the opportunity to anticipate a mathematical law.” “Thus this special aesthetic sense plays the role of a sieve, and this explains why anyone who is deprived of it will never become a real inventor.”

From the history of the issue

Back in the 19th century, Hermann Helmholtz described the process of making scientific discoveries “from the inside” in a similar way, although in less detail. In these introspections of his, the stages of preparation, incubation and insight are already outlined. Helmholtz wrote about how scientific ideas were born in him:

These happy inspirations often invade the head so quietly that you do not immediately notice their meaning, sometimes it will only indicate later when and under what circumstances they came: a thought appears in the head, but you don’t know where it comes from.

But in other cases, a thought strikes us suddenly, without effort, like inspiration.

As far as I can judge from personal experience, she is never born tired and never at a desk. Each time, I first had to turn my problem around in every possible way, so that all its twists and tangles would lie firmly in my head and could be learned again by heart, without the help of writing.

It is usually impossible to get to this point without continuous work. Then, when the onset of fatigue passed, an hour of complete bodily freshness and a feeling of calm well-being was required - and only then did good ideas come. Often... they appeared in the morning, upon awakening, as Gauss also noticed.

They came especially willingly... during the hours of a leisurely climb through the wooded mountains, on a sunny day. The slightest amount of alcohol seemed to scare them away.

It is interesting to note that stages similar to those described by Poincaré were identified in the process of artistic creativity by B. A. Lezin at the beginning of the 20th century.

1. Work fills the sphere of consciousness with content, which will then be processed by the unconscious sphere.
2. Unconscious work represents a selection of the typical; “But how that work is done, of course, cannot be judged, it is a mystery, one of the seven world mysteries.”
3. Inspiration there is a “transfer” of a ready-made conclusion from the unconscious sphere into consciousness.

Stages of the inventive process

P. K. Engelmeyer (1910) believed that the work of an inventor consists of three acts: desire, knowledge, skill.

1. Desire and the origin of the idea. This stage begins with an intuitive glimpse of an idea and ends with its understanding by the inventor. A probable principle of the invention emerges. In scientific creativity this stage corresponds to a hypothesis, in artistic creativity it corresponds to a plan.
2. Knowledge and reasoning, scheme or plan. Developing a complete, detailed idea of ​​the invention. Production of experiments - mental and actual.
3. Skill, constructive execution of the invention. Assembly of the invention. Doesn't require creativity.

“As long as there is only an idea from the invention (Act I), there is no invention yet: together with the scheme (Act II), the invention is given as a representation, and Act III gives it real existence. In the first act the invention is assumed, in the second it is proven, in the third it is carried out. At the end of the first act there is a hypothesis, at the end of the second there is a performance; at the end of the third - a phenomenon. The first act defines it teleologically, the second - logically, the third - factually. The first act gives the idea, the second the plan, the third the action.”

P. M. Yakobson (1934) identified the following stages:

1. The period of intellectual readiness.
2. Discretion of the problem.
3. The origin of an idea is the formulation of a problem.
4. Finding a solution.
5. Obtaining the principle of the invention.
6. Transforming a principle into a scheme.
7. Technical design and deployment of the invention.

Factors that interfere with creative thinking

• uncritical acceptance of someone else's opinion (conformism, agreement)
• external and internal censorship
• rigidity (including the transfer of patterns, algorithms in solving problems)
• desire to find an answer immediately

Creativity and personality

Creativity can be considered not only as a process of creating something new, but also as a process that occurs through the interaction of personality (or a person’s inner world) and reality. At the same time, changes occur not only in reality, but also in personality.

The nature of the connection between creativity and personality

“Personality is characterized by activity, the desire of the subject to expand the scope of his activities, to act beyond the boundaries of the requirements of the situation and role prescriptions; orientation - a stable dominant system of motives - interests, beliefs, etc...." Actions that go beyond the requirements of the situation are creative actions.

In accordance with the principles described by S. L. Rubinstein, by making changes in the world around him, a person changes himself. Thus, a person changes himself by carrying out creative activity.

B. G. Ananyev believes that creativity is a process of objectification of a person’s inner world. Creative expression is an expression of the integral work of all forms of human life, a manifestation of his individuality.

In the most acute form, the connection between the personal and the creative is revealed by N. A. Berdyaev. He's writing:

Personality is not a substance, but a creative act.

Motivation for creativity

V. N. Druzhinin writes:

The basis of creativity is the global irrational alienation of man from the world; it is directed by a tendency to overcome and functions as a “positive feedback”; a creative product only spurs the process, turning it into a pursuit of the horizon.

Thus, through creativity, a person’s connection with the world is realized. Creativity stimulates itself.

Mental health, freedom and creativity

The representative of the psychoanalytic school, D. W. Winnicott, puts forward the following assumption:

In play, and perhaps only in play, a child or adult has freedom of creativity.

Creativity is about play. Play is a mechanism that allows a person to be creative. Through creative activity, a person strives to find his self (himself, the core of personality, the deepest essence). According to D. W. Winnicott, creative activity is what ensures a healthy state of a person. Confirmation of the connection between play and creativity can also be found in C. G. Jung. He's writing:

The creation of something new is not a matter of activity, but of the desire to play, acting out of internal compulsion. The creative spirit plays with the objects it loves.

R. May (a representative of the existential-humanistic movement) emphasizes that in the process of creativity a person meets the world. He's writing:

...What manifests itself as creativity is always a process... in which the relationship between the individual and the world takes place...

N. A. Berdyaev adheres to the following point:

The creative act is always liberation and overcoming. There is an experience of power in it.

Thus, creativity is something in which a person can exercise his freedom, connection with the world, connection with his deepest essence.

Essay

by discipline:

"Industrial technologies and innovations"

“Creative activities, activities in the field of art and entertainment”

Completed: Art. gr. B3121 Gaidukova Ksenia

Accepted: Art. Ave. Shatalov P.V.

Voronezh 2017

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………......3

2. The concept of creative activity and its types…………………………........4

3. Agency for organizing holidays……………………………..…..10

4. Conclusion………………………………………………………...…..14

5. List of used literature..…………………………………..…15

Introduction

Every person in life needs to perform certain activities for various reasons: because of earnings or because of the love for their work. There can be many reasons. There are currently about 7 billion people on earth. We are all different, and each of us has our own activities. But we are all united by this common need to do something, the need for purpose in life. Otherwise, our life will seem meaningless to us. Or rather, it will not seem, but it will be like this: you have no goal in life - that means you are doing nothing, that means you are not bringing any benefit to society, that means you are “wasting” your life.

The concept of creative activity, its types and directions.

Creative activity is a form of human activity aimed at creating qualitatively new social values. The impetus for social activity is a problematic situation that cannot be resolved on the basis of available data in traditional ways. An original product of activity is obtained as a result of an unconventional relationship between the elements of a problem situation, the attraction of implicitly related elements, and the establishment of new types of interdependence between them. The prerequisites for creative activity are flexibility of thinking (the ability to vary solutions), criticality (the ability to abandon unproductive strategies), the ability to bring together and link concepts, integrity of perception, and more. Creativity is the result of activity. However, within the activity itself one can see acts of extraordinary ingenuity, of radical novelty. Although there are also moments, acts of activity in which creativity is not so clearly expressed. Thanks to many momentary impulses, an idea is born, carrying with it a certain creative potential, the embodiment of which can be admired after many, many years.

The author, in the process of creative research, can achieve a result that he did not expect. This is the main advantage of the free expression of one's ideas by an artist, writer or entertainer. Creative activity, in addition to well-known directions, can be realized in some special way. For example, a world-famous musician, for a number of objective reasons, began to feel a certain limitation in his concert activities and decided to expand his potential. Using personal experience, as well as some technical means, the artist creates a previously unknown musical instrument that revolutionizes the world of music. This is where true creativity lies. History knows many similar examples.

Among the main types of human creative activity we can highlight the following:

1. Social creative activity

2. Scientific creative activity

3. Technical creative activity

4. Artistic creative activity

Creativity as a social action. The concept of social action is associated primarily with the practical activities of people in the sphere of material production and the change or improvement of existing social relations. Activity should be understood as any manifestation of social activity, which represents a way of existence of social reality. Social creativity is the voluntary, feasible participation of a group of people in improving, perfecting social relations, transforming the situation in the society around them. Such activities are always associated with a person’s personal initiative, his search for non-standard solutions, the risk of choice, and personal responsibility to the public. In terms of the topic under consideration, it is significant that in terms of direction and results (with a certain degree of convention) the following social actions can be distinguished: reproductive - aimed at preserving and maintaining the normal functioning of a particular social institution (in the political field, for example, election campaigns are of this nature, in the field of science - a system of information and training, in technology - standardization). In this case, the interpretation of creativity as a specific type of social action allows us to combine its analysis in psychological and logical aspects with a discussion of the problem on a broader sociological level. The foregoing is fully applicable to the understanding of scientific creativity.

Creativity in science. Scientific creativity is “an activity aimed at producing new knowledge, which receives social approval and is included in the system of science,” “a set of higher cognitive processes that expand the boundaries of scientific knowledge.” Creativity in science requires, first of all, the acquisition of fundamentally new socially significant knowledge; this has always been the most important social function of science. Consideration of scientific creativity in the aspect of social action requires, as we see, involvement in the analysis of a set of problems determined by the structure of modern science: the relationship between experimental and fundamental research, management of scientific activity, personnel, information system, financing, planning and organization of science, implementation of scientific research results in production , social orientation of scientific action, etc. Such questions fall within the competence of the currently emerging “science of science,” science studies.

Technical creativity. In modern conditions, the transformation of science into a direct productive force is expressed in the emergence and functioning of a unified system “science - technology - production”. Therefore, the analysis of scientific creativity as a social phenomenon also requires consideration of creativity in technology as one of the necessary components of holistic social action. The starting point for the analysis of technical creativity is to understand it as an essential moment of social practice. Practice is the socio-historical activity of people aimed at transforming nature and improving the system of social relations. In practice, a person confronts nature as the object of his activity, expediently transforms it and satisfies his needs. Human needs are based on production and determine the production of necessary products. Practical action is implemented on the basis of the social subject’s awareness of the purpose of the activity, the means of achieving it, as well as the characteristics of the object of transformation. In the process of practice, human needs are objectified, the subjective becomes objective. Objectification is the transformation of a goal from a form of subjective activity into the form of an object. In its highest and most complete form, objectification appears in the conditions of expression of the essential powers of man: as a creator. The universal means of creative activity is the idea. The reflection of the properties of an object in an idea coincides with a person’s desire to transform it into a socially significant value. In practice, an object is transformed in accordance with human needs. The content of the idea here passes into the form of activity and from it into the form of existence of the created object.

Being a certain integrity in social terms, practice is found in various forms. One of its essential manifestations is technical practice. The content and levels of this type of practice are the operation, production and design of equipment. The product of technical practice is the technology, reliability and efficiency of the functioning of technical devices. Its means are various instruments, industrial equipment and test benches, and from the point of view of ideas - scientific, technical and natural science theories. Technical practice forms the immediate basis of technical creativity. Outside of it, without connection with it, there is and cannot be creativity in the field of technology. The creative process in technology covers both the search for an idea and its implementation, both the development of a person’s spiritual potential and the creation of an object; it is a kind of synthesis of spiritual and material production.

The essence of artistic creativity. Unlike scientific and technical creativity, artistic creativity does not have a direct focus on novelty and is not identified with the production of something new, although originality is usually present among the criteria of artistic creativity and assessments of artistic talent. At the same time, art has never denied the strength and power of scientific methods and used them to the extent that they helped solve the main task of art - the creation of aesthetic values. But at the same time, in art there is always an understanding of superiority over science in the ability to use the power of artistic invention, intuition and fantasy. Art as a form of human activity differs, in particular, from science in that elements of illusion and fantasy are not only present in the final results of artistic creativity, but also have the same greater value than the results of direct scientific analysis, synthesis, experiment and observation. Thanks to fantasy and fiction, integrity and imagery in art are realized, and art acquires strength and independence.

Interrelation of types of creativity Analysis of the social nature of creativity involves consideration of its specific types, and with them consideration of types of activity. First of all, we can distinguish two major types of activity: material-practical and spiritual-theoretical. Both in turn include a number of smaller varieties. Practical activities are associated with various sectors of production, management, and services (industry, agriculture, medicine, etc.). Spiritual and theoretical activity finds expression in various forms of social consciousness (morality, science, art, legal awareness, religion, etc.).

In accordance with various types of theoretical and practical activity, types of creativity can be defined: scientific, technical, artistic, law-making, etc. This conclusion is generally fair, but it is also necessary to take into account specific historical conditions and the interest of individual classes and social groups in progress one or another specific area of ​​social life. In pre-Marxist sociology, the concept of creativity applied only to the work of artists and scientists, while other types of activity were declared uncreative (especially physical labor). But over time, people began to interpret the relationship between various types of creativity as mutual influence, and not in terms of displacement or complete absorption of one of them by the other.

Creative activity is a multi-valued concept. This could be fine art, the creation of musical compositions, poetry, or the organization of any creative evenings or master classes. And in general, organizing something is a creative process.

“The creative process There are different approaches to defining creativity. To make the following discussion clearer, let's look at the elements that I believe are part of the creative process and then try to define it.

First of all, as a scientist, I must have something that can be observed, some kind of creative product. Although my fantasies may be completely new, they cannot be called creative until they are translated into something real, such as expressed in words, written down on paper, conveyed in a work of art, or reflected in an invention. These works must be completely new, their novelty arising from the unique qualities of the individual in his interaction with the objects of experience. Creativity always leaves the mark of the individual on its product, but this product is not the individual himself or his materials, but the result of the relationship between them.

Creativity, in my opinion, does not depend on any specific content (in the book cited by Carl Rogers Not provides no evidence for this thesis - Approx. I.L. Vikentyev). I believe that there is no significant difference in creativity when creating a painting, a literary work, a symphony, inventing new murder weapons, developing a scientific theory, searching for new features in human relationships or creating new facets of one's personality, as in psychotherapy. (In fact, it was my experience in this last area, rather than in any art form, that gave me a special interest in creativity and its development. Close familiarity with the original and effective way an individual remakes himself in the course of a psychotherapeutic relationship inspires confidence into the creative potential of all people.)

I understand the creative process as an activity aimed at creating a new product, growing, on the one hand, from the uniqueness of the individual, and on the other, conditioned by the material, events, people and circumstances of life.

Let me add a few criticisms to this definition. There is no distinction between “good” and “bad” creativity. One person may be looking for a way to relieve pain, while another may be inventing new, more sophisticated ways to torture political prisoners. Both of these actions seem to me to be creative, even if their social significance is completely different. Although I will discuss these social assessments next, I have refrained from including them in my definition due to their extreme volatility. Galileo And Copernicus made creative discoveries that in their time were assessed as blasphemy and evil, and in our days are considered fundamental and constructive. We do not want to obscure the meaning of our definition by using terms that have a subjective meaning.

We can look at this problem from another angle by noting the following: in order for a product to be considered historically as the result of creativity, it must be accepted by some group of people at some point in time. This fact, however, does not matter for our definition due to the already mentioned fluctuations in assessments, and also due to the fact that many creative products were never noticed by society and disappeared without being appreciated. Therefore, group acceptance as an aspect of creativity is missing from our definition. In addition, it must be said that our definition does not distinguish between the degree of creativity, since this is also a very variable, evaluative definition. By our definition, the actions of a child who invents a new game with his friends are creative in nature; Einstein, formulating the theory of relativity; a housewife inventing a new meat sauce, a young author writing her first novel. We're not trying to rank their actions as more or less creative."

Carl Rogers, Towards a theory of creativity / A look at psychotherapy, human development, M., “Progress”; "Univers", 1994, p. 411-412.

Creativity has long been considered a special gift, and there were only two areas in which this gift could be realized: scientific and technical creativity and artistic creativity. Well, sometimes design activities were also added. But now it has been proven that creativity can manifest itself in any area of ​​our lives in special creative activities.

There are many that differ both in character and in their product. But creativity cannot be called one of these types; rather, it can be considered as a level or stage of development of any sphere of human activity.

Reproductive activity

The first or lowest level is considered to be the reproductive or reproduction level. It is associated with the processes of mastering activity skills and learning. But for many people, their activities, including professional ones, remain at this level. Not because they study all their lives, but because reproductive activity is simpler and does not require much mental effort.

This level involves repeating techniques and actions developed by other people, creating a product based on a model. Let's say, a person who knits a sweater according to a pattern is engaged in reproductive activities, a teacher who uses the teaching methods proposed in teaching aids is also at this level, as is a housewife who prepares salads according to recipes found on the Internet.

And this is normal, for this purpose society accumulates and carefully preserves experience so that people can use it. Most people spend the bulk of their time engaged in reproductive activity, mastering social experience and using ready-made knowledge. True, reproductive activity in its pure form occurs mainly in the learning process. People tend to strive for something new and very often they introduce something of their own, original into other people’s schemes, developments, recipes, that is, they introduce creative elements into reproductive activity, thereby increasing social experience.

Creativity level

Unlike the reproductive level, the creative level involves the creation of a new product, new knowledge, and new ways of activity. It is this kind of activity that is the basis for the development of human civilization.

The creative level is theoretically accessible to every person with normal mental development, since everyone has creative potential. In fact, not everyone develops it, and the creativity inherent in children is not preserved in all adults either. The reasons for this are very different, including the peculiarities of upbringing and the limitations of a society that does not need too many active creatives.

Creative activity, even with high potential, is impossible without reproductive activity. Before writing a symphony, the composer must master musical notation and master playing a musical instrument. Before writing a book, a writer must at least learn the letters, spelling and style rules. All this is done on the basis of assimilating ready-made experience, the knowledge that has been accumulated by other people.

Product of creative activity

The result, the result of any activity, is some kind of product. This distinguishes it from the simple biological activity of animals. Even if we are talking about mental activity, it also creates a product - thoughts, ideas, decisions, etc. True, there is a type of activity in which the process is more important. This is a game, but the game ultimately leads to a certain result.

It is the product that reflects the originality of the activity; in creativity it is characterized by novelty. But the concept of the new is relative, a person is not able to come up with anything absolutely new, because in his thinking he operates only with the knowledge and images he has.

An indicative case occurred with Leonardo da Vinci, to whom a familiar innkeeper ordered an image of an unprecedented monster for a sign. The famous artist, realizing that he would not be able to draw anything unprecedented, began to meticulously sketch individual details of animals and insects: paws, mandibles, antennae, eyes, etc. And then from these details he constructed such a creepy but realistic creature that when he saw a large drawing on a round shield, the innkeeper ran away in horror. Actually, master Leonardo demonstrated the very essence of creative activity - combinatorics.

On the other hand, there is objectively new and subjectively new:

• In the first case, in the process of creative activity, a product is created that has never existed before: a new law, mechanism, painting, recipe for a dish, teaching method, etc.
• In the second case, novelty is associated with a person’s individual experience, with his personal discovery of something.

For example, if a three-year-old child built a high tower out of cubes for the first time, then this is also a creative activity, because the child created something new. This novelty may be subjective, but it is also significant and important.

Creativity as a process

Creative activity is sometimes called combinatorial, but the uniqueness of its process is not limited to this.

The study of creativity began long before our era, and many ancient philosophers paid attention to this amazing activity, which reflects the very essence of human existence. But creativity began to be studied most actively from the beginning of the 20th century, and currently there are many theories and scientific directions in the study of this subject. It is studied by world-famous psychologists, sociologists, specialists in the field of cultural studies and even physiologists. Summarizing the research results, we can highlight several specific features of the creative process.

• This is a creative process, that is, its result is always not just a new product, but a product that is significant for society. True, there is also some contradiction here, which is the subject of dispute among specialists in the field of creativity psychology. If a person has designed a new type of deadly weapon, then this is also creativity. However, it cannot be called creative.
• The basis of the creative process is special, which is characterized by non-standardity, spontaneity and originality.
• Creative activity is associated with the subconscious, and inspiration plays a large role in it - a special altered state of consciousness, which is characterized by increased mental and physical activity.
• Creative activity has a clearly defined subjective side. It brings a sense of satisfaction to the creator. Moreover, pleasure comes not only from the result, but also from the process itself, and experiencing a state of inspiration is sometimes akin to the effects of a drug. This perception of creativity, the feeling of euphoria that the creator experiences, is the reason that a person often creates, creates unique things, not because he needs it, but because he likes it. An author can write “on the table” for years, an artist can give away his paintings to friends without thinking about exhibitions, and a talented designer can store his inventions in a barn.

However, creativity is still a social activity; it requires an assessment of society and is focused on the usefulness and necessity of the created product. Therefore, social approval is a very important and strong incentive that activates creativity and promotes creativity. Parents must remember this and actively encourage and praise their children for any manifestation of creativity.

Types of creative activity

It’s not for nothing that creativity is called a spiritual-practical activity. It combines two types of activity or two spheres in which the creative process takes place: internal, spiritual, occurring at the level of consciousness, and external practical, associated with the embodiment of ideas and plans. Moreover, the main, leading type of creative activity is precisely internal - the birth of a new idea or image. Even if they are never translated into reality, the act of creativity will still remain.

Spiritual creative activity

This type of activity is both the most important and the most interesting, but difficult to study. Not only because it happens at the level of consciousness, but mainly because even the creator himself is poorly aware of how the creative process occurs in his brain, and often does not control it.

This unconsciousness of creative processes creates a subjective feeling of a message from the outside or a plan given from above. There are many statements by creative personalities that confirm this. For example, V. Hugo said: “God dictated, and I wrote.” And Michelangelo believed: “If my heavy hammer gives solid rocks one look or another, then it is not a hand that moves it: it acts under the pressure of an outside force.” The 19th-century philosopher W. Schelling wrote that the artist “is affected by a force that draws a line between him and other people, prompting him to depict and express things that are not fully revealed to his gaze and have an inscrutable depth.”

The feeling of otherworldliness of the creative act is largely due to the enormous role of the subconscious in creative activity. At this level of the psyche, a huge amount of figurative information is stored and processed, but this is done without our knowledge and control. Under the influence of increased brain activity during the creative process, the subconscious often brings ready-made solutions, ideas, and plans to the surface of consciousness.

Spiritual creative activity, if considered as a process, has three stages.

Stage of initial accumulation of information

As already mentioned, the basis of creative activity is the transformation of ideas, images, theoretical and practical knowledge existing in memory. Information is not only a building material for creativity; it is comprehended, analyzed and gives rise to associations with the knowledge that is stored in memory. Without associative thinking, creativity is impossible, since it connects different areas of the brain and blocks of information to work on a problem.

Already at this level, a creative person’s ability to notice details, see unusual phenomena, and the ability to look at an object from an unexpected angle is manifested. At the stage of initial accumulation of information, a premonition of a plan is born, a vague expectation of discovery.

The stage of forming a plan or developing an idea

This stage can occur in two forms:

• in the form of a scrupulous analysis of the idea that has arisen, its planning and elaboration of different options and solutions;
• in a heuristic form, when the accumulation of information and reflection on its possible use suddenly gives birth to an idea as bright as a fireworks flash.

Often the impetus for the birth of a plan can be some insignificant event, a chance meeting, a phrase heard or an object seen. As happened, for example, with the artist V. Surikov, who found the color and compositional solution for the painting “Boyaryna Morozova” after seeing a crow sitting in the snow.

Development of the plan

This stage is no longer spontaneous, it is distinguished by a high level of awareness. It is where the idea is conceptualized and concretized. The scientific theory is “overgrown” with rigorous evidence, diagrams and drawings are created to implement the design concept, the artist selects the material and execution technique, and the writer works out the plan and composition of the novel, creates psychological portraits of the characters and determines the plot twists.

Actually, this is the last stage of creativity, which occurs at the level of consciousness. And the next stage is practical activity.

Practical creative activity

The separation of these two types is arbitrary, since even at the practical stage the main creative work is performed by the brain. But there are still some features inherent specifically in practical creative activity.

This type of creativity is associated with special abilities, that is, with abilities for specific activities. A person can create a brilliant idea for a painting, but it can only be translated into reality, brought from the level of consciousness, only by having a knack for visual activity. And not only in the form of potential.

That is why it is so important for creative activity to master professional skills and mastery of mastery in a specific field. The lack of professionalism is clearly visible in children's creativity. It is, of course, bright, fresh, original, but in order for the child’s potential to be revealed, he needs to be taught how to use a pencil and brush, various techniques and methods of visual or literary creativity. Without this, the child will quickly become disillusioned with creativity, because he will not be able to achieve the desired result.

On the other hand, practical creative activity is also controlled by consciousness and subconscious. And the most culminating period of the creative act is inspiration. This state occurs when both types of creative activity interact.

Inspiration is perhaps the most amazing thing in creative activity. Even the ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote about the special state of the creator, which he called ex stasis - outside oneself, going beyond the limits of consciousness. But it is no coincidence that the word “ecstasy” - the highest pleasure - comes from the same term. A person in a state of inspiration really feels a surge of mental and physical energy and enjoyment of the process.

From a psychological point of view, inspiration is accompanied by an altered state of consciousness, when a person creates without noticing time, hunger, fatigue, sometimes bringing himself to physical exhaustion. Creative individuals tend to treat inspiration with great reverence, which is not surprising. Under its influence, productivity increases significantly. In addition, the euphoria that often accompanies inspiration causes a desire to experience this state again and again.

Nevertheless, there is nothing supernatural, otherworldly or mystical in inspiration. Its physiological basis is a strong focus of excitation in the cerebral cortex, which arises under the influence of active work on an idea, a plan, one might say, obsession with them. This focus of excitation provides both high performance, activation of the subconscious level, and partial suppression of rational control. That is, inspiration is the result of persistent mental work, so it is useless, lying on the couch, waiting for it to descend in order to start creating.

Creative activity, although it presupposes the presence of special abilities, is accessible to everyone, because there are no incapable people. You don't have to be an artist, poet or scientist to be creative. In any field, you can create something new, discover new patterns or methods of activity. Find what you like, what you have an inclination for, and be creative, enjoying both the result and the process itself.

Types and functions of creativity

There are different types of creativity:

• production and technical
• inventive
• scientific
• political
• organizational
• artistic
• everyday life, etc.

in other words, types of creativity correspond to types of practical and spiritual activity.

Vitaly Tepikin, a researcher of the human creative factor and the phenomenon of the intelligentsia, identifies artistic, scientific, technical, sports-tactical, as well as military-tactical creativity as independent types.

Creativity as an ability

Creativity as a process (creative thinking)

Stages of Creative Thinking

G. Wallace

The best known description today is the description of the sequence of stages (stages) of creative thinking, which was given by the Englishman Graham Wallace in 1926. He identified four stages of creative thinking:

1. Preparation- formulation of the problem; attempts to solve it.
2. Incubation- temporary distraction from the task.
3. Insight- emergence of an intuitive solution.
4. Examination- testing and/or implementation of the solution.

However, this description is not original and goes back to the classic report of A. Poincaré in 1908.

A. Poincare

They came especially willingly... during the hours of a leisurely climb through the wooded mountains, on a sunny day. The slightest amount of alcohol seemed to scare them away.

It is interesting to note that stages similar to those described by Poincaré were identified in the process of artistic creativity by B. A. Lezin at the beginning of the 20th century.

1. Work fills the sphere of consciousness with content, which will then be processed by the unconscious sphere.
2. Unconscious work represents a selection of the typical; “But how that work is done, of course, cannot be judged, it is a mystery, one of the seven world mysteries.”
3. Inspiration there is a “transfer” of a ready-made conclusion from the unconscious sphere into consciousness.

Stages of the inventive process

In the most acute form, the connection between the personal and the creative is revealed by N. A. Berdyaev. He's writing:

Motivation for creativity

V. N. Druzhinin writes:

The basis of creativity is the global irrational motivation of human alienation from the world; it is directed by a tendency to overcome and functions as a “positive feedback”; a creative product only spurs the process, turning it into a pursuit of the horizon.

Thus, through creativity, a person’s connection with the world is realized. Creativity stimulates itself.

Mental health, freedom and creativity

N. A. Berdyaev adheres to the following point of view:

The creative act is always liberation and overcoming. There is an experience of power in it.

Thus, creativity is something in which a person can exercise his freedom, connection with the world, connection with his deepest essence.

see also

Notes

Literature

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